By: Blonde One
I once had the pleasure of spending a whole walking season with a new friend who was very knowledgeable about nature’s lunch contributions! I didn’t know this person very well, but one of his favourite sayings was: ‘trust me – it’s edible’. He was always ferreting around in hedgerows and grassy banks looking for a plant or flower that could be eaten. The other people that we were walking with, I seem to remember, were less than keen to attempt the delicacies that he found! Instead preferring to tuck into their chocolate, flapjack or crisps whilst laughing at the mug (me) that would tentatively nibble on another piece of greenery. On looking back at this season’s walking, I now wonder if I was wise to trust a near stranger. Luckily I didn’t ever get any form of poisoning and survived to tell the tale. I now wish that I had taken more notice of what he was giving me as his skill was quite an impressive one. Unfortunately I can only really remember 2 of his finds: the early leaf buds of the beech tree have quite a sweet tang to them and the early leaf buds of the hawthorn have a slightly nutty taste.
It has been a long time since I have tried either, so perhaps if I’m brave enough, I will give them a try again over the next few weeks. It seems a shame that Mother Nature had provided some free natural treats that are generally ignored.
Health Warning: I don’t recommend that you go around eating anything out of hedgerows unless you are fully sure what it is and whether it’s edible or not!
A very good book for foragers is Food for Free by Richard Mabey. He died of food poisoning. No only joking!
I like the sound of the book, Ray. I’ll let you know how we get on.
Ouch! And now is the time to pick the earliest stinging nettle shoots – but they must be boiled thoroughly in order to destroy the sting stuff.
Have never fancied nettles myself, or dandelions for that matter!
I think Ive only ever once eaten some odd greenery, which I think was wild cabbage (??????). I know that I seemed to gain a stonking headache after and felt quite ill for a while so now I just stick to grabbing blackberries when out and about!!!
Note to self – avoid wild looking cabbage!